Monday, December 7, 2015

Ranji Trophy 2015-16: Jharkhand vs Hyderabad

Jharkhand continued their fantastic turn-around with a third bonus point win on the trot. And qualified for the quarter-finals after a gap of 2 years.

Hyderabad collapsed in the first innings with Jaskaran Singh, Kaushal Singh and Shahbaz Nadeem taking 3 wickets each. Jharkhand scored briskly and built up a huge lead riding on Saurabh Tiwary's unbeaten double century. Hyderabad resisted strongly in the second innings and managed to turn around the deficit. But Jharkhand easily chased the small target without any loss and racked up their third consecutive bonus point win.

Game Notes

Team Changes: Rahul Shukla came back in place of Samar Quadri.

2nd first-class century for Shiv Gautam.

15th first-class century for Saurbah Tiwary.

3rd fifer for Rahul Shukla and second for the season.

3/32 - Jaskaran Singh's career best bowling figures

Season Stats

Top Scorer: Saurabh Tiwary 677 @ 67.70

Most Wickets: Shahbaz Nadeem 45 @ 17.16
Player Count: 21 from 8 Games
Captain Count: 3 from 8 Games

Points Tally - 31 from 8 games. Finished second in the league table behind Saurashtra (36). Earns them a place in the knock-outs as well as a promotion to the big league of Group A or B next season, which provides a better platform for the likes of Tiwary & Nadeem to be noticed by the national selectors.

Coming Up Next - The Ranji Quarter-finals begin 3rd February, but before that we have the Vijay Hazare Trophy commencing on 10th December, where Jharkhand fight it out in Group B. With the national team unlikely to have any tours, there is a likelihood of the likes of Dhoni and Aaron playing for Jharkhand which will be a real boost-up for the team